


It's Never Over

by Sinna



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Blink is a trans boy and it's not a big deal, Gen, M/M, Post-Canon, about as shippy as the movie itself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 20:05:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10226162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinna/pseuds/Sinna
Summary: Blink takes a day off. David learns how to throw a punch. Sort of.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Beth Harker (chiana606)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chiana606/gifts).



David had spent a decent amount of time around the newsies, and he generally considered them all friends, but it was always strange to be alone with any of them. Especially Kid Blink. Especially now that he was back at school.

He wished Mush was here. He knew how to talk to him, at least. Around Mush, Blink always seemed less intimidating. Not that he’d ever really seen them apart before now. He’d begun to believe that the two were actually connected, mentally if not physically. But when he’d asked where Mush was, Blink had simply shrugged.

“You know where Jack is every second of the day?”

David had been forced to admit that he did not. That was, after all, why he was here in the Lodging House waiting for Jack to come back, rather than out on the streets searching for him.

Having made his point, Blink flopped back on his bunk and stared at the ceiling. David hesitated, unsure of what to do next. It could be hours before Jack finished up selling, and he wasn’t sure that awkwardly standing in the doorway for that long was really acceptable. At the same time, this was home for most of the newsies. Just barging in would have felt equally wrong.

He’d only been to the lodging house twice before, and both times Jack had been with him, guiding his movements with confidence and casual touches. Alone, Davey felt like an intruder, no matter that the man at the front desk had waved him up the stairs with barely a second glance the moment he mentioned Jack’s name.

“You just gonna stand there all day?” Blink asked.

“I…” David began, trailing off as he realized he didn’t have an answer.

“You…?” Blink prompted.

“I’m just waiting for Jack,” David explained.

“Well, you don’t have to wait in the doorway,” Blink said. “Pull up a bunk.”

“Won’t- I mean…. I don’t want to intrude….”

Blink scrutinized David with his good eye. “Whaddya mean intrude? You’re a newsie, same as the rest of us. Going back to school don’t change that.”

“I wouldn’t want to take someone else’s bed,” David explained awkwardly.

“If someone wants it I’m sure they’ll be happy to shove you off it,” Blink replied nonchalantly. “But things don’t much work like that around here. Newsies are in and out of the place all the time. It ain’t like anyone’s attached to a specific spot. You try to take stuff from someone’s locker, they’ll have an issue, but don’t worry about a bed.”

Hesitantly, David sat down on the nearest bunk bed. He could feel his every muscle tensing, waiting for someone to come yell at him about being in the wrong place, but as the minutes went by and no such admonishment was forthcoming, he slowly relaxed.

Every few moments, his eyes strayed to Blink. From what he could tell, Blink wasn’t doing anything, just laying on the bunk and staring at the ceiling. David would have thought he was asleep, except that his eye was still wide open. Finally, David mustered the courage to ask the question on the tip of his tongue.

“Why aren’t you out selling?”

“I didn’t feel like it,” Blink said. “Me and Mush have a deal. We get one day off a month, no questions asked.”

“That seems like a smart idea,” David said.

“You ain’t the only one with smart ideas, Mr. Walking Mouth,” Blink snapped.

“That’s not what I meant.”

David struggled to keep his voice steady. This wasn’t some boy from school. This was Kid Blink.

“Then what did you mean?” Blink asked.

“My ma, well, after she realized how hard school was for me, she let me have one day a quarter to skip school with no consequences. She’d write to the school and tell them I was sick, even if I wasn’t. Somehow, knowing I had that option made things easier, even on the days I did go.”

David looked at the floor, not quite sure why he’d shared that. It seemed unfair to be complaining about a school most of the newsies could never afford.

“Is school really that bad?”

There was something odd in the look Blink was giving him, but David couldn’t decipher it.

“It’s not- I mean, the school itself is fine. It’s just, well, some of the people aren’t so great and…”

“And you ain’t so good at standing up for yourself,” Blink surmised. “At least, not unless there are unions involved.”

A knot in the wooden floor was suddenly intensely interesting. He thought Blink would probably let the subject drop. He wasn’t sure if that was better or worse than continuing this increasingly awkward conversation.

“I don’t know how to stand up to people,” David admitted after a minute. “Forming a union and going on strike, well, there are plenty of pamphlets on how to do that. There aren’t any on how to fit in at school. Trust me. I asked.”

“And I’m guessing you can’t just punch ‘em?” Blink clenched his fists to demonstrate.

“I’m no good at fighting,” David pointed out. “Anyway, even if I thought that would work, I couldn’t risk getting thrown out.”

“Any school that throws a boy out for fighting can’t be that great,” Blink decided. “Someone needs to teach you how to throw a punch. It’s a life skill.”

\--

“Blink taking the day off?” Jack asked.

Mush nodded, trying not to get annoyed at Jack for interrupting his attempt to count his papers.

…13… 14… 15-

“You wanna sell together?” Jack interrupted again.

Mush handed over his stack of papers. “Count these for me?”

Jack flipped through the papers quickly, his lips barely moving as he counted them. After the first count, he counted again.

“It’s fifty,” he confirmed, handing them back.

Mush hefted them up on his shoulder. “Where are we selling?”

Jack grinned. Mush knew he’d been lonely ever since David went back to school, and Mush couldn’t deny he’d enjoy the company. The days always seemed to drag without Blink.

“So happens I know a spot,” Jack said.

Mush shrugged, and motioned for him to lead on.

Unsurprisingly, one spot turned into two, and then three. Bustling street corners, crowded wrestling matches, busy storefronts. Jack never seemed to be able to stick to one place. Mush followed him around without complaint. He couldn’t deny that it made for an effective selling strategy. By three in the afternoon, they’d sold out.

“You going for the evening edition?” Jack asked.

“I’m going back to the lodging house to check on Blink first,” Mush explained.

“I’ll come with you,” Jack offered.

Mush shrugged. It wasn’t like there was any way to tell him not to come. Mush would have preferred to spend some time alone with Kid Blink, but it would be fine.

They walked the seven blocks back to the lodging house in silence.

Or rather, Mush walked in silence while Jack rambled on about Santa Fe. It was nothing he hadn’t heard before, so Mush mostly tuned it out, making sure to nod and smile in all the right places. Instead, his mind was mainly preoccupied with worries about Blink, as it always was on the days when Blink announced he wasn’t selling. The rules of their agreement said no questions asked, but that didn’t mean the questions weren’t swirling around in Mush’s head.

Had Blink been binding his chest up too tight again? Or was it his head this time? Once, Blink had said it felt like he had a swarm of bees buzzing around inside his brain. Race had called him Kid Buzz for a week, until Blink had gotten fed up and punched him. Not hard, but enough to communicate that he was crossing a line.

Jack was still prattling on as they reached the lodging house, but he broke off to greet Mr. Kloppman at the front desk.

“There’s a boy here for you, Jack,” Kloppman said.

Jack looked over his shoulder, eyes widening slightly, before the obvious conclusion must have occurred to him and the fear in his face changed to joy, a grin spreading across his face. He dashed up the stairs.

Mush smiled before following him up.

“Thanks, Mr. K!” he called over his shoulder.

He made it to the top of the stairs just in time to see David Jacobs punch Kid Blink in the face.

\--

For a moment, Jack Kelly couldn’t process what he was seeing. He had seen David get violent before. exactly once, when he’d been protecting Jack himself at the rally. He’d never expected to see that sort of righteous fury directed at Blink.

Then, Blink started laughing, and David began sputtering apologies.

“I’m so sorry!”

David looked like he wasn’t sure what to do with his hands, caught between reaching out for Blink and pulling away.

“I told you to punch me,” Blink pointed out.

“I thought you were going to… move… or something!” David replied, a note of hysteria in his voice.

“What’s going on here?” Jack asked.

“I’m teaching him how to throw a punch, Jack,” Blink explained cheerfully. He looked behind Jack and grinned. “Heya, Mush!”

“You okay, Blink?” Mush asked.

Blink shrugged. “Dave don’t hit that hard. I might have a bruise for a day or two, but it’s fine.”

David looked a bit relieved, but Jack could tell he was still uneasy. He approached David, resting a hand on his arm.

“Why don’t we go talk up on the roof?”

David nodded. Jack guided him to the ladder, pausing as David climbed up to look back at Blink and Mush. The two were already deep in conversation, hands clasped and heads nearly touching. For a moment, Jack envied them.

Then, he turned away and climbed up the ladder after David.

David was sitting by the edge of the roof when Jack made it up, looking down at the street below.

“You doing okay?” Jack asked quietly as he came up behind him.

“I don’t know,” David admitted. “I don’t like hurting people.”

“Blink can take it,” Jack said. “One measly punch ain’t the worst he’s ever had to put up with.”

“I still feel bad,” David said.

Jack smiled and sat down next to him. Their knees just barely touched.

“I know. That’s one of the things I like about you.”

David looked at him. “What? That I’m weak and scared of violence?”

“That you don’t want to hurt people,” Jack clarified.

He’d known too many people who enjoyed the feeling of their fists connecting with someone smaller than them.

“You should learn to defend yourself though,” he said.

David looked less than pleased, but Jack could still remember the terror that had seized him when the Delanceys went after the Jacobs kids. He was sometimes haunted by the thought of how differently things might have gone if he hadn’t been close enough to hear Sarah’s screams. If David was going to continue trying to change the world, Jack wanted him to be able to protect himself.

“I won’t be there to protect you every time,” Jack pointed out.

He could see David’s mind flashing back to that same moment. While Jack knew David would always be willing to put himself on the line for a cause he believed in, Jack also knew that wasn’t how things worked. If Pulitzer had taught him anything, it was that. The men on top would do anything to stay there. And they could get away with it.

Jack reached for David’s hand.

“Lesson number one. How to make a fist.”

\--

“You know, I don’t think getting punched is supposed to be part of teaching someone how to throw a punch.”

“I wasn’t trying to get punched,” Blink pointed out sulkily. “I was gonna duck.”

“And you did such a good job of that,” Mush said.

“He was so reluctant! I didn’t expect him to actually put any effort into it.”

Mush sighed.

“Are you doing okay?” he asked, and Blink knew he wasn’t talking about any injuries he might have obtained from David Jacobs’ unexpected determination.

“I’ll be okay,” Blink promised. “My head’s a bit more rattled than I’d like, but it’ll calm down. It always does.”

He tried to sound more confident than he felt, but Mush still looked worried.

“I’ll be fine to sell tomorrow,” he said.

Mush nodded.

“I know you will.”

Blink grinned and threw an arm around Mush’s shoulder.

“Maybe I’ll even outsell you.”

Finally, Mush smiled.


End file.
